Most people come home to four walls. Ben Siely comes home to a boat, the islands and a dog who surfs.
For seven years, Ben has lived on the water. His home is called Bentay. Another of his boats is called Public Nuisance, which feels less like a name than a confession.
He looks the part. Barefoot, sailor pants, head scarf, chains around his neck, skin weathered by years outside. He has the air of a man who has collected more stories than possessions.
Then Chasse comes surfing past in a pink life jacket. He’s 15, a little deaf and prone to wandering off. He’s had a colourful life: a fight with a pig, broken bones, being run over by a motorbike and more close calls than any old dog should have to endure. But put him on a board and he’s home.
The crowd watches from the shore as Ben powers the boat across the water, Chasse riding behind him on a stand up paddleboard, being towed along like he owns the place. There is no great fuss between the two of them. It’s a ritual. When the weather is good, they do it every day, sometimes more than once. And when the conditions really fire up, Chasse can hit 35 knots; a rather impressive turn of speed for a 15 year old dog in a pink life jacket.
For Ben, it’s just another day on the water. For Chasse, it’s where he belongs. Ben has plenty of options when it comes to getting on the water; a catamaran, three monohull yachts and kayaks. He fishes around the islands, catching barramundi, threadfin salmon, jewfish and flathead. It’s a life dictated by weather and tides rather than clocks and calendars.
“When it doesn’t rain, I’m the luckiest man alive,” Ben says.
It sounds like something you’d say as a joke, but Ben means it. There are no grand plans here. If the weather is good, they go surfing. If the fish are biting, they go fishing. If the wind is right, they sail. And Chasse goes along for the ride.
That is perhaps the strangest and sweetest thing about the pair. Somewhere along the way, Ben and Chasse have built a life that doesn’t look much like the one most people were taught to want. No four walls, no conventional backyard, and no ordinary nine to five. Just boats, islands, fishing, weather and a best mate who happens to surf.
Ben thinks Chasse will make it to 20. Until then, if the weather is good, they’ll keep surfing. Which, for these two, is probably all the retirement plan they need.
